


Frost and Metal

by Helthehatter



Category: Bumblebee (2018), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Bumblebee (2018) - Freeform, F/M, Rom-com, Snow, Snowball Fight, Snowman, Transformers - Freeform, Warm, knightverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 03:21:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helthehatter/pseuds/Helthehatter
Summary: While visiting relatives Charlie decides to show Bumblebee how much fun a girl and a robot can have on a snowy day.





	Frost and Metal

Charlie woke up to a chill in the air.  
She wrapped her blanket closer around herself but with only a tank top and boxers as pajamas, it did little to block out the foreign cold.  
I live in California!, she thought with offended disgust before remembering that she was no longer in the Golden State. She and her family were in Nevada, visiting relatives.  
Charlie sat up and with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, looked around the room she had claimed as her own. Her aunt’s husband was more well off than the rest of her family and had invited them to their winter home for a visit.  
Said winter home was a two story log cabin and while it was the nicest place Charlie had ever stayed at…she couldn’t exactly appreciate the beauty when her bare feet touched the cold, hardwood floor.  
After scrambling for a pair of slippers she found under the bed she forced herself to stand up and ignore the cold as she walked over to the window of her temporary room. It looked out on the front yard, which was large and grassy, and beyond it was acres of green forest. It was an isolated and quiet place, which was a peaceful change of pace from how loud her own home was. But her eyes quickly fell from the scenery to the set of cars in front of the house. Between her aunt’s and mother’s car was a little yellow Volkswagen Beetle and the sight of it immediately put a smile on her face, her irritation from the cold melting away. She had begged and pleaded for her mom to let her bring her own car, talking about how she wanted to show it off to everyone and take the chance to go out to nearby Nevada hang outs and made some friends. She immediately got Ron’s support when she mentioned the F word and Charlie drove herself to her aunt and uncle’s winter home.  
But really Charlie wouldn’t have been able to stand leaving Bumblebee alone for two weeks even if she had gotten Memo to check in on him. She wanted to keep her best friend close.  
She waved at the car though she was unsure he could see her, before turning away to get ready for the day.  
After a horribly short shower (her brother and twin set of cousins banging on the bathroom door for her to hurry up) and a change of much thicker clothes Charlie was downstairs making quick work of a chocolate pop tart.  
“Slow down, honey,” her mother said from where the adults sat at the table with newspapers and breakfast.  
“You don’t want bacon or anything?” her Aunt Sam asked. She was taller and more lean than Charlie’s mother but her voice was much softer than Sally’s. Or maybe that was just the thing adults do where they’re a bit more polite to kids that aren’t their own.  
Charlie shook her head as she finished her pop tart and a small glass of milk, “No thanks, I was hoping I could go out riding today? See the sights?”  
 “I don’t see the problem with that,” Ron spoke up. He probably thought Charlie had actually read that book he gave her for her birthday and was taking its “valuable lessons” to heart.  
But her mom was more hesitant, “The weather “I won’t be out for long,” Charlie insisted, but her heart skipped with excitement at the thought of snow. She hadn’t seen snow since her last visit to Nevada which was back when she was like ten. And she’d love to introduce Bumblebee to snow, she assumed that there wasn’t winter from where the was from.  
forecast said it would snow today. You don’t know how to drive in snow.”  
“I think she’ll be fine,” Uncle Tom looked up from his newspaper. “It’s going to be a few hours before we even see any flakes, she’ll be back by then.” He looked over at Charlie. “Besides, that’s your first car right?”  
Charlie nodded.

 

“I remember when I got my first car, I practically lived in it. Drove it everywhere. It’d be hypocritical to not let you do the same.” He gestured to the door with a dramatic flourish. “Go where the wind takes you, Charlie.”  
“But make sure that wind brings you back here,” her mother added. “You can be out for two hours at most.”  
“Course,” Charlie smiled, thanking her uncle and giving her mom a kiss on the cheek before hurrying outside.  
“Hey, Bee!” she smiled at the car as she ran over to him, “How was your night?”  
A cheerful beep was her answer as she slid into the car, appreciating how warm the seat and steering wheel were. “Ready to go?”  
She and Bumblebee pulled away from the house and headed down the rood that was dirt instead of pavement as they made their way through the trees. The day before, when they were driving up at the house, Bumblebee had handled the dirt, sometimes bumpy, road, with ease, and Charlie imagined he could handle snowy and icy roads as well.  
Suddenly a brown blur galloped across the road, disappearing into the trees. Bumblebee stopped abruptly, the radio turning on as he spoke: “What…was…that?”  
“It was a deer,” Charlie explained, looking out through the car’s window to see if she could see the animal in the foliage.  
“...Deer…?”  
“It’s a type of animal,” Charlie explained. “Like Conan, he’s an animal. Just a different kind.”  
She felt an electric hum in the car and she smiled, “Do you wanna go for a walk and look for another deer?”  
She stepped out of the Volkswagen and not even a second later Bumblebee was transformed and on his feet. He fiddled his fingers together, looking toward the spot the deer had vanished but not moving without Charlie.  
She stepped toward the trees, looking for any forest made path that would be big enough for the robot. “Just be careful okay? If we leave a trail of broken trees…people are going to get suspicious.”  
He nodded earnestly and, with incredibly careful and soft steps, followed Charlie into the trees. She looked around as they walked, Bumblebee looming over her as they walked, keeping his head low and away from the lower branches of the trees. All the while his eyes darted around, his body thrumming with excitement that made Charlie chuckle. She hadn’t realized he liked animals so much.  
A couple of birds flew up into the sky above them and Bumblebee let out a joyful buzz.  
“Shh, shh,” she quickly hushed him. “We have to be quiet.”  
Bumblebee lowered his head in apology and nodded, before they kept walking. But it was only a few minutes before they stepped out into a small clearing and, standing on the other side of the clearing, was a doe.  
When Bumblebee spotted her, the antennae on his head shot up, something Charlie didn’t know they could do, and his entire body straightened with excitement. But he remembered Charlie’s earlier words and stayed quiet.  
Slowly Charlie sat down and patted the cold grass next to her for Bumblebee to join her, he knelt down, his eyes staring at the deer. It was charming how fascinated he was with it, she was probably correct in thinking there weren’t animals on his world, at least not like the animals here on Earth.  
The doe lifted her head and glanced toward them and the two friends stiffened. But, not seeing them as a threat, the deer turned back to its snack. Bumblebee looked to Charlie and she could feel him smiling at her. She grinned back.  
But in the moment of the shared smile a snowflake fluttered between them. Charlie blinked and looked up into the gray sky where snowflakes were starting to rain down. Bumblebee followed her gaze and let out a whirl of startled noise. Said noise surprised the deer and it ran off into the trees but Bumblebee was too focused on the snow that was already dusting his head and shoulders. He looked to Charlie for answers.  
“It’s snow,” she said as she stood up. “Frozen water that will fall from the sky when its cold enough. But I didn’t know it would snow so soon today.”    
A burst of mirth rose up into her chest and she beamed. Stepping into the middle of the clearing she lifted her hands to catch the falling flakes, she forgot about the childlike joy that came with snow. Charlie gave in to her whimsical urge and spun around in a slow circle, arms held out and face to the sky. If she had been with anyone else she wouldn’t dare do something so childish but with Bumblebee… With Bumblebee she could enjoy herself to the fullest.  
She looked up to the robot who had been watching her silently, when their eyes met his face plating shifted as if in a smile and Charlie’s cheeks felt flushed. “It’s fun, try it.”  
Bumblebee took a step forward, glanced around to make sure he had enough room, then started to turn a circle, very, very, slowly, with his arms held rigid against his chest.  
Charlie covered her mouth to hide back a giggle. Good on him for not wanting to accidentally knock down a tree or something.  
“You can hold your arms out,” she assured, lifting her own up as an example.  
He did as told, moving in a much more clunky manner as he continued his spin. But by then there was already a thin, fresh layer of snow and Bumblebee hadn’t realized how one could slip on the white flakes.   
The fall made nearby branches shake but Bumblebee wasn’t injured from the trip, instead his head was between his shoulders, his eyes cast away in embarrassment.  
Charlie walked forward and patted his knee, “Don’t worry, Bee. Remember those rom-coms we watched? People always fall for clumsy moves.” The words brought the mortifying memory of when she spilled food all over Tripp Summers back to her brain, but she decided Bumblebee didn’t need to know about that. It was already an affront to mankind that she herself knew it.   
On the bright side her words seemed to cheer the robot up, looking at her with his blue eyes seeming to glow. He then lifted his arm and motioned for Charlie’s hand. A little confused she complied, her hand resting on the tip of his finger.  
He leaned his head down and gently pressed his face plate, still warm despite the cold, against her hand in a robot version of a kiss. It brought forth a bubble of delight from Charlie’s chest, he was taking those movies to heart it would seem.  
“You’re a natural born prince, Bee,” she complimented him, throwing in a dramatic curtsy for good measure.  
He beeped happily and let Charlie rest both her hands on his palm, she hadn’t thought to grab any gloves on the way out. But Bumblebee was somehow able to keep himself warm, like he had his own body temperate. Every day he seemed closer to human than car.  
“I know Mom would’ve preferred me to come home when it started to snow, but she only told me to get back in two hours time,” Charlie grinned mischievously. “So let me show you the proper way to enjoy snow.” 

 

.

 

First Charlie introduced Bumblebee to a snowman. He helped her roll large balls of snow (she had to remind him not to make it too large, last thing she needed was a her uncle or cousins walking by later and wondering why there was an eight foot snowman just hanging around.  
After finishing it off with stick arms and stones for facial features, she stepped back to admire their work, hands on her hips. Bumblebee sat behind her, his head tipping to the side as he gazed at the snowman’s lopsided face and mismatch arms.  
“He’s perfect,” Charlie declared. “This is our son, Bee. What will his name be?”  
The robot twitched the antennae-like appendages on his head.  
Charlie nodded, “Junior, it is. I like it.”  
She knelt down and started to roll a smaller sphere of snow together, “Now I have to show you and Junior how to have a snow ball fight.” In a blur she whirled around and flung the snow ball at the robot, the snow bursting against his shoulder. Bumblebee jumped slightly looking from his shoulder to his friend.  
“Come on, I’ll let you have a free throw before things get serious.”  
Bumblebee reached down and made his own snowball, but Charlie’s excited smile fell when Bee lifted up a snow ball that was as large as her head.  
“Wait…wait-wait-wait!”  
Too late Charlie got a face full of snow, the force knocking her onto her back, immediately followed by Bumblebee letting out a panicked buzz and running over to her side. Charlie wiped the snow from her eyes, laid still for a second to assess if anything was broken as Bumblebee loomed over her looking like a frightened puppy.  
When it was clear he hadn’t accidentally broken her face or spine she burst out laughing, Bumblebee’s tense shoulders dropping in relief. She sat up, still chuckling, “I can’t even imagine how my legs going over my head like that must have looked.” Bumblebee dusted the snow off her hair, still looking apologetic and nervous.  
With his eyes focused on her head Charlie grabbed a handful of snow and splattered it against his face, Bumblebee buzzing in surprise. “There, now we’re even.”  
His blue ees glowing through the flakes, Bumblebee shoveled up his own mound of snow and dropped it on Charlie’s head who shrieked with laughter, standing up and bolting, putting distance between herself and the robot. “Oh, it is so on now!”  
Leaving Junior in the clearing the two friends chased each other into the trees, the branches decorated with the white frost. Charlie had the advantage, being smaller and not having to duck under branches. But the ease came with carelessness, and she didn’t pay attention as she looked over her shoulder at Bee, still running, and suddenly the ground below her shifted. And then she fell and was sliding down a snowy hill, scrambling to stop she didn’t realize how much trouble she was in until she saw a lake, glistening in the cold sunlight, then she was air-born, then she was submerged.  
The iciness of the water temporarily stunned her, the air had already been too chilly when she first got here, there was no way one could even put their toes in water, but now that it was snowing. She forced her limbs to move, trying to find the surface, her thick winter clothes dragging her down.  
Did Bumblebee see her fall in? If so he’d rescue her! But she had no guarantee he did see, he could think she was hiding. Despite how heavy her legs were she forced them to kick, slowly, slowly, she made her way up. She had never felt colder.  
She broke the surface and gasped in air, coughing and sputtering, still freezing and feeling like stones were in her boots, weighing her down.  
“Help-” she began before her head went under again, her limbs were starting to seize up, she couldn’t move them and if she couldn’t move them she’d drown! She’d-  
A strong, firm grip wrapped around her waist and she shot up, the cold winter air stinging her lungs as she desperately gulped in oxygen. Water streaming over her eyes she made out the blurry shape of Bumblebee who had fished her out of the lake. He pressed her against his chest and it felt like an engine that had overheated. Could he overheat? For some reason she wondered if that was the equivalent of a frantic heart beat. She pushed the thoughts away and buried her face into his chest plate, splaying her hands against the metal and trying to absorb his heat.  
“T-Thanks, B-Bee,” she spoke between chattering teeth. “You-you need to take me back to-to the h-house.” Her mother was never going to let Charlie outside again.  
 Bumblebee nodded and wrapped both hands around her, shielding her from the wind as he jogged toward her uncle’s house. She was too cold to worry that he would show his robot self to her family. But no, after what felt like ages of her shivering and pressing her cheek where Bumblebee’s heart should be.  
She was feeling tired and forced her eyes to stay open, Charlie knew falling asleep when she was this cold…that was a terrible idea. But she was still only vaguely aware of Bumblebee transforming around her back into a Volkswagen, driving up to her uncle’s house and blaring the horn, loud and long until her mother and relatives came running out. Bumblebee opened the door and Charlie stumbled out, no doubt looking like a wet rag doll as the adults practically carried her in. They were asking questions but Charlie was too cold to answer. Her mother and aunt took her upstairs to get her out of her soaked clothes and into dry thick pajamas and taking her back downstairs where her uncle had started a fire. They put her in a chair in front of the blaze, wrapping her up in thick blankets. Finally she stopped shivering, the chill leaving her and she felt save enough to close her eyes.

 

.

 

She had woken up hours later, still in the chair in front of the fire, outside it was night time.  
Bumblebee, she thought with panic. The poor thing probably had no idea if she was save. She stood up and her mother was suddenly there, as if having appeared out of thin air. She examined her daughter while Charlie explained what had happened, leaving out that it was her car who had saved her, instead saying she was able to swim to shore and make it to her car.  
Her mother was clearly furious but didn’t ask any questions, Charlie felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn’t wanted to scare her like that.  
After a quick dinner with the rest of the family falling over themselves to make sure she really was okay-Charlie headed upstairs to turn in early. But instead of going to sleep she waited until all the noise downstairs had officially died down, signaling that everyone else had gone to sleep.  
Sitting up she wrapped the blanket extra firm around herself and walked to her window, opening it and looking down at the cars below.  
“Bumblebee!” she spoke through her teeth, hoping none of the household would be roused.  
Quick as a flash Bumblebee transformed and was a robot again, he hurried over and had to stand tip toe to reach Charlie’s window, his fingers resting on the windowpane. His blue eyes roved over Charlie as if he couldn’t believe she was okay.  
Without a word she reached out and wrapped her arms around the side of his head, pressed her cheek against his face, he was still warm.  
“Thank you,” she breathed, not releasing him. “I would’ve died out there if you hadn’t saved me.”

 

His reply was a low, comforting hum that helped put her at ease.  
“Sorry I had to cut our snow day so short. I don’t think my mom’s going to let me out the house after this. But I had a lot of fun with you today.” She pressed her lips against his forehead. Minus the falling into freezing cold water… “Today was the closest I’ve ever been to a romcom.”

 

 


End file.
